Vocal Tic Outbreak in Massachusetts Schools diagnosed as Mass Psychogenic Illness

[rebartholomew]

A new study of the mysterious outbreak of at least 24 cases of vocal tics/chronic hiccups at two Massachusetts vocational schools (2012-2014), concludes that the episode was an outbreak of conversion disorder. The findings appear in the May 2016 issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. The study is based on 1,000+ Freedom of Information Act documents and contradicts the Final Report issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which concluded that that the crude prevalence estimate for vocal tics/chronic hiccups is ?consistent with prevalence estimates for tic disorders available in the scientific/medical literature.? The MDPH Final Report issued in November 2014, is conspicuous for the absence of any reference to conversion disorder. This is misleading because Essex Aggie had 18 female cases from a student population of 479. Robert Bartholomew, author of the new study, comments: ?What are the odds of 18 students ? all teenagers, all girls, all from the same school, exhibiting the same type of rare tic (a chronic vocal tic), within a relatively short time span and for which environmental factors had been excluded ? a tic that decreases with age and is predominately found in male children??

The citation is:
Bartholomew, Robert E. (2016). ?Public Health, Politics and the Stigma of Mass Hysteria: Lessons from an Outbreak of Unusual Illness.? Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 109(5):175-179.

Also see: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...ht-the-hiccups

Dr. Robert E. Bartholomew, Medical Sociologist, Botany College, Auckland, New Zealand.

[sharon sanders]

Welcome rebartholomew.

[alert]

We covered the outbreak as it happened here:

https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/emerging-diseases-other-health-threats-alphabetical-i-thru-z/other-aa/149652-tic-disorder-usa-massachusetts-outbreak-high-school-students

One of the important warnings from the days of the outbreak is that if the cause of the outbreak really is truly unknown, many people will blame it as mass psychogenic illness, whether it is or not.

[rebartholomew]

Good point. I saw the earlier postings, and probably should have added to the thread instead of creating a new one. This was my first posting to FluTrackers. It will be interesting to see if any similar cases appear in the near future, given that rarity of such outbreaks, yet there was the fairly recent episode in LeRoy (Western New York) in 2011-12, which was also diagnosed as psychogenic in nature by the New York State Health Department.

[sharon sanders]

We add to old threads and also start new ones on the same topic. It depends on the perspective of the poster which is the most appropriate. Sometimes when I post a new thread I link to relevant threads on the same subject.